Chapter 458 – Same Camp

Although it just seems like a normal family banquet, Zhao Hai had learned a lot from the event. Although he was well-read, there were still some things that he needed to learn about management.

The next morning, Zhao Hai and the others came out of the s.p.a.ce. When he went out to the courtyard, he saw Smith. Seeing Zhao Hai, Smith smiled and said, “Just got up? Didn’t you drink a lot yesterday? Hangover?”

Zhao Hai smiled and said, “Fortunately, I’ve had some soup to sober up yesterday evening so I’m still fine. How about Uncle, are you fine?”

Smith smiled bitterly, “On this day of the year, it’s perfectly fine to go all out. RIght, let’s eat a meal together.”

After breakfast, Zhao Hai and the others prepared to head out and see the situation at Carson City. Suddenly, a servant came outside the door carrying a card. He bowed to Zhao Hai and said, “Young Master, a letter came from Prince Charlie. It was sent over by his servant.”

Zhao Hai nodded and then received the card to take a look. It was an invitation to a banquet that Charlie was hosting tonight, addressed to Zhao Hai.

Zhao Hai slightly frowned, he nodded then said, “Alright, tell the servant that I’ll be coming.” The servant gave a nod and turned away.

Zhao Hai stared at the invitation, he wasn’t afraid of meeting anyone, he just didn’t like attending banquets. But on the other hand, he also knew that he cannot dodge them because of his current status.

He sighed and stored the invitation. At this moment, Laura and the others came in chatting and laughing, they just came back from a small expedition to Rustling Tree courtyard’s garden.

The group of women came to see that Zhao Hai’s expression wasn’t good. Laura can’t help but be curious so she asked, “Brother Hai, did something happen?”

Zhao Hai faintly smiled as he handed the invitation over to Laura. When she received the card, she smiled and said, “This is great. It seems like Charlie wants to introduce you over to his subordinates. Moreover, this is a formal invitation, this meant that a lot of people will be coming tonight. You might see a lot of people from Great n.o.ble families.”

Zhao Hai smiled and said, “I already knew about the possibility of me meeting Great n.o.bles. Charlie wanted to brand me as someone from his side, letting people know that we’re on the same camp. Megan, you shouldn’t go this evening, I’m afraid this might have an impact on the Calci Family.”

Megan shook her head and said, “No, I’m going. Brother Hai, with you, everything will be fine. Besides, even if they suspect the Calci Family to be supporting Charlie, what can they do about it? If the prince manages to lose the battle, then with you supporting him from the back, n.o.body would dare go too far in dealing with him. Also, with you on his side, I think Charlie has the greatest chance of obtaining the imperial throne.”

Zhao Hai looked at Megan, then he smiled and said, “Alright, then everyone will go. Right, we should buy some clothes, we cannot shame the Buda Clan.”

Megan smiled and said, “No need, I can just ask the family to get Big Brother Hai some new garments.” Then she turned around to tell a servant to find someone from the clothes storeroom.

Laura looked at Zhao hai and said, “Brother Hai, it is certain that Terry would be attending this banquet. He may find some opportunities to smear your face. We should be careful this time, that Terry person is sinister. He may not act, but he might have some subordinates doing the deeds for him. After asking Megan, it seems like the Robert Family doesn’t have a low status in Rosen Empire.”

Zhao Hai nodded and said, “I know, rest a.s.sured nothing will happen. Right, let’s go prepare.” Laura nodded.

Before long, a person from the clothes room came and took Zhao Hai’s measurements. An evening black suit was then sent over immediately.

The suit was a very traditional n.o.ble clothing. It had very fine workmans.h.i.+p, it even had the Buda Clan’s crest embroidered over it. Zhao Hai didn’t expect the Calci Family’s people to be so fast. With this point, Zhao Hai can see the difference between new and old n.o.ble families.

Zhao Hai’s group tried on their clothes and saw that they were perfect. Because of the small notice, Zhao Hai went to tell Smith about this matter, but he didn’t think that Smith would already know about it. Turns out, the Calci Family also received an invitation.

The skies slowly turned dark, Zhao Hai’s group rode his bull-pulled carriage and headed towards Carson City. Since it was G.o.d’s Grace Day season, the gates of the capital weren’t closed during the evening. But the pa.s.sage in and out of the city were instead heavily monitored.

Shun already knew the way to Charlie’s mansion, so he didn’t need anyone’s guidance. He directly drove the carriage towards the Third Prince’s palace. While on the way, Zhao Hai and the others could see the amount of carriages present.

When the carriages pa.s.sed by and noticed Zhao Hai’s bull-pulled carriage, some of them stopped and offered Zhao Hai their greetings. Zhao Hai took note of these people, they may be Charlie’s people.

Before long, Zhao Hai’s carriage stopped in front of Charlie’s front door. The servants in charge of welcoming the guests immediately greeted him when they saw his carriage, on of them came forwards and bowed, “Mister Zhao Hai?”

Zhao Hai opened his door and looked at the servant, “I am Zhao Hai.”

The servant immediately said, “Sir, let me lead you to the backyard. His highness ordered me to inform Mister that you shall enter the mansion’s back door. Whenever mister comes here next time, he can immediately head over there.”

Zhao Hai nodded and said, “Lead the way.” The servant nodded and then walked alongside the carriage as it was lead towards the back door.

The back door of this mansion wasn’t a place that people can just pa.s.s through. Generally, except the direct family, no other person can come here. This was because this door has direct access to the main courtyard, the center of the mansion.

After entering the back using the back door, the servant immediately led Zhao Hai’s group towards the living room. Upon arriving, Zhao Hai saw Charlie standing in front of the room’s door along with several people. These people also wore formal clothing, along with their emblems. Looking at them, Zhao Hai found out that their t.i.tles aren’t high, they didn’t have the bearing of someone coming from a Great n.o.ble family.

Zhao Hai, along with Laura, Meg, Megan and Nier, came forwards and gave Charlie their greetings. Charlie smiled and said, “Little Hai, you came. I actually had somebody send over a carriage as a subst.i.tute to your bull-pulled carriage. Don’t you think that your carriage is a bit too slow?”

Zhao Hai smiled and said, “You’re highness, in all honestly, I really prefer my bull-pulled carriage. I think I won’t be comfortable with his highness’ carriage, it is too fast and less stable. I’m just not used to it.”

Charlie smiled and said, “That’s fine as well, come, let’s go to the living room , I have some people I need to introduce you to.”

Zhao Hai entered the room with Charlie. At the same time, Laura and the others were lead by a servant towards the side halls. There, people of the other n.o.bles were staying,. Some were like Zhao Hai, bringing along several women to attend the banquet.

After entering the room, Charlie introduced some people to Zhao Hai. In fact, Zhao Hai was already familiar with some of them. When Zhao Hai opened his shop in Jade Water City, these people came over and expressed their well wishes, therefore, Zhao Hai were aware of their appearances.

When their greetings came to an end, they sat down. Charlie looked at the people present and said, “I welcome all of you today and I also express my grat.i.tude in accepting my invitation. I will not beat around the bush and directly tell all of you that everyone present here are all the people that I have placed my full trust in. We’re all on the same side, so I hope that all of you can be more acquainted in the future.”

Zhao Hai nodded as he smiled and said, “Certainly, your highness can feel relieved, we’re on your side. If something goes wrong, we surely won’t be bringing the trouble to you.”

A tall person sitting by Zhao Hai nodded and said, “Yes, Mister Zhao Hai is right, Your Highness can rest a.s.sured.”

This person was from the Yinmi Family. The family can be regarded as an emerging clan. Their family was a hundred years old and held the t.i.tle of count. Even if they only had the status of a count, they were actually a military family, a family of generals. Their troops were also very good. But since the Rosen Empire was the continent’s most powerful nation, there weren’t a lot of people who dared to provoke them, making wars quite scarce. Because of this, the family had no chance of displaying their might making it impossible for their t.i.tle to be promoted.

This person was called John Yinmi, a typical martial artist with a frank temperament. But because of his disposition, the Yinmi Family had been having some bad years lately. John was not good at business, and the income from their territory wasn’t that great.

But Zhao Hai actually took a liking to this person. There were only a few n.o.bles with tempers that are straight just like John. This was because such attribute is very disadvantageous for a n.o.ble to have.

The people present also agreed to what Zhao Hai and John just said. Charlie nodded and then said, “Father is still in his prime, but even if he tolerates us having our own groups, he doesn’t like to see us flaunting our influence. Your families don’t belong to the core of Rosen Empire’s power, so I hope you don’t attract too much attention to yourselves. At the same time, I hope you also pay attention to others. But be careful with your actions”

Several people nodded, Charlie continued, “Mister Zhao Hai joining my side certainly brought a huge effect on my standing. My brothers doesn’t have any 9th rank experts, they didn’t even have the capacity to invite one. Thus, mister’s help was truly big. But this also drew jealousy from my brothers, even father may start paying attention to me. So I hope that all of us can stay low-key, do not make any moves that can attract attention.”

When Zhao Hai heard Charlie, he couldn’t help but be apologetic, “I have given his highness some troubles, Zhao Hai has been inconsiderate.”

Charlie waved his hand and smiled, “No, mister is just showing his own strength. Although it brought me small trouble, its effects aren’t really that big, so mister doesn’t have to worry. On the contrary, with Mister’s strength, people who wanted to make a move on us would have to think twice. This is already a huge help.”

Those present also nodded, they agreed with Charlie’s words. Among the Princes, the Crown Prince in the capital city can be said to have the biggest influence. The Second Prince has also been exhibiting his talents these past few years. Charlie handles his affairs quite low-key, to the point that he seemed unremarkable. This made people who wanted to hire themselves to him think that Charlie’s strength wasn’t that big.

However, Zhao Hai joining made thing a whole lot different. Zhao Hai managed to invite a 9th rank expert, moreover, his undead also held formidable fighting strength. Most importantly, he was also the Calci family’s son-in-law. With this status, now many people in the continent dared to underestimate Zhao hai.

Zhao Hai coming to Charlie’s side made people think twice about their evaluation of the Third Prince. Some small n.o.bles who were waiting at the sides already threw themselves towards Charlie’s door. Now, Charlie’s people had already reached quite a substantial number.

But Charlie understood that even if his numbers increased, those who were truly loyal to him were only few. The majority of them were just like tall gra.s.s, although their numbers looked menacing, when it came to use, only a few were qualified.

Because of this, Charlie maintained his policy of acting low-key. Zhao Hai admired him for this. Zhao Hai also knew about Charlie’s recent momentum, he was actually afraid that the Third Prince would be swallowed up by this increase of power. It seems that Charlie put much thought into it.

Zhao Hai looked at the group and smiled, “Your Highness, I know that you’re just saying that to lift my spirit. But if there really is anything that I can do to help in the future, please don’t hesitate to send a word to me. We are all in the same camp, we ought to help each other. Right, Brother John, since we still have to wait until G.o.d’s Grace Day, how about we discuss about a partners.h.i.+p. I have a lot of good products on hand, maybe Brother John is interested in them.”

When John heard Zhao Hai, he didn’t understand what was going on at first. However, he was very clear about Zhao Hai’s Haven Rice. This product has received minor fame inside Rosen Empire. No matter who received the rights to sell those Haven products, they would surely gain good profit. Zhao Hai was clearly doing this to help him.

John was filled with grat.i.tude as he looked at Zhao Hai, “I thank Brother Zhao Hai. I will not lie to brother, His Highness has been keeping my family up these past few years. I’m afraid that I’ve already incurred a huge debt. Brother’s help is surely heaven sent.”

Zhao Hai smiled and said, “My grain business isn’t something that His Highness wanted to sell. So I don’t have a good distribution point inside Rosen Empire. Since I’m looking for a person to partner with, might as well have someone from my own side, so that good fortune won’t flow towards another person’s yard.”

Charlie laughed and said, “Good, what Little Hai said is was really good. Not making fortune flow into another person’s yard. I was going to say something along the lines of that. Remember, we are all family. If we succeed in the future, then I, Charlie, will vow that i will never forget to treat everybody well.”

The people present immediately gave their thanks to Charlie. People on the continent rarely make any vows. Charlie doing this convinced them that he really valued them very much.

After Charlie asked them to sit down, another person, the head of the h.e.l.ler Family, Tahl, said, “If his highness want to let others s.h.i.+ft their attention away from us, there is a way. We can fake an internal dispute. What does His Highness think?”